MIG Welders??? Cutting diamond plate??

Hey ya'll at christmas time i am going to get a mig welder. I am looking at a Hobart 175 handler right now. Anyone know where i can get a deal on one? Anyone recommend a certain kind?? Also, what would be the easiest and straightest way to cut diamond plating? I am planning on building a center console and a speaker box cover out of diamond plating and rhino lining them to match the interior. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks - Doug Krebs

For cutting the tread plate, you could take it to a fab shop and have them cut it on the shear. Shouldn't be too expensive and will be right on every time. Or with a torch at home, brace up really well and cut it straight. Plasma works GREAT too.

Can't say I would recommend the Hobart though seeing as they just went out of business. Parts might become mighty scarce. I know this because our shop uses all Hobart stuff and now we're trying out other brands due to their being gone.

I've used quite a few welders and I would say that Miller and Lincoln would be the best to look at. My personal favorite is Miller, I've got one at home and use one at the race shop. They might be a little more expensive than the typical Home Depot special but they're definitely worth it.
I agree about cutting too, plasma is the only way to go!!

Nah! Who has money to buy a plasma tourch. If I were you, espessialy if you are going to use rhino liner, I would buy a few metal blades for my circular saw and go at it with that. You can make strait cuts, but it takes time and patience. If you have a oxy accetelyen tourch, and you are good enough use that. My friend and I have been building a tube frame 4X4. We use a tourch on everything. Our floor is made out of a 1/8 inch 4x8 sheet of diamond plate. We cut it with a tourch, and it looks great. The edges turn out fine if you are going to weld them anyway. If you dont weld the edges I would stay with the circular saw. It makes a much cleaner cut. Also, go to a local welders supply and buy a few soap stones. They mark metal well and make cutting much easier. Just my .02$.

Those metal cutting blades work great in a circular saw, I use them because I can't afford a plasma cutter. Just clamp a piece of angle iron or a 2x4 down as a guide so you don't have to try and see the line through all the sparks and the cuts come out perfect. Good luck!

If you want the checker plate to look good after its cut take it to a shop with a shear. Bring beer . we used to do small side jobs like this all the time.
If you want to cut it with a torch clamp a straight edge on the checker and follow it with the torch. That'll give you a fairly straight cut, and you'll be able to buff the edge with a grinder to make it smooth. Don't have the torch set to hot, you'll get a much cleaner cut with the torch set kinda cold.
Personally I hate Hobart machines, Hobart wire, Hobart anything! Lincoln rules, with Miller a close second.

Yeah that is definitely the sh!t for Aluminum, we cut up to 2" thick aluminum plate with a Skil saw . Does a fine job!
Cutting steel with a skil saw and a zip cut disk is slow and a PITA though.
Unless someone has shown you the do's and don't's of cutting aluminum with a Skil saw I would not recommend trying it at home! Kick back can be a real concern, and nobody wants to have the business end of a Skil saw in their lap (or elsewhere).
One place I worked at the boss insisted we use the saw backwards. Basically you hold the saw backwards and use your pinky finger for the trigger and pull it towrds yourself, awkward at first but at least if the saw grabs and kicks back its heading away from you.

I have a hobart beta mig 250 that is a 220 machine, and I like it. I also use a hobart handler 135 and I do not like it in the least. I think that Lincoln makes the best 110 wire feed. We use them in the field and they take quite a bit of abuse and just keep right on plugging away. That Hobart 135 only has 20% duty cycle and will not weld continuous. The wire also does not feed very well.

I have a Lincoln Weld Pac 100 and am very satisfied with it. It gets good penetration on mild steel up to 1 quarter inch thick. I was going to get the Weld Pac 150 (150 amps) which requires a 220 outlet, but decided to get the 100 because if i needed to weld anything over a quarter inch I could use my stick welder. Also with the 100 all you need is a 110 volt outlet which makes it a lot handier if you need to do some welding away from home. The manual says it should be a dedicated 20 amp 110 outlet (only the welder on this circuit) but I have gotten by with non-dedicated circuits as long as you only weld for short periods pausing in between. I also got the optional gas set up but have not used it yet. This allows you to weld thin sheet metal, as well as aluminum and stainless steel. I guess it really depends on what type and thickness of the metal, and the amount of welding you need to do. The Weld Pac 100 does not have a continuous duty cycle. I have found that when I weld metal in the range of 1/8 thickness it seems to work fairly good if you weld about a 6 inch bead then give it a break for a couple minutes. I was going to get a miller but decided that the higher cost couldn't be justified for the amount of welding I would be doing. If I was going to be using it every day I probably would have got a larger Lincoln or the Miller. Lincoln and Miller have websites that are very informative.

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